Reliable wireless communications inside ships and from ship-to-shore has become an increasingly daunting challenge for maritime operations. The heavy metallic environment of a ship, including the ship's hull, as well as the reflections from the water surrounding the ship create a hostile transmission environment for Radio Frequency (RF) signals that cause most commercial wireless systems to fail to provide reliable communications.
Therefore, a communications platform which allows voice, image, and data to be transmitted and received in a harsh propagation environment would be very beneficial to communications in these environments.